George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer
Sir
George John Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer KG PC FRS FSA (
1 September 1758–
10 November 1834) was a
Whig politician of the late 18th and early 19th century.
Spencer, the son of
John Spencer, 1st Earl Spencer was born in
1758 in
Wimbledon and was baptised there on the
16 October 1758. His godparents were
King George II,
Earl Cowper (his grandmother's second husband) and his great-aunt the Dowager Viscountess Bateman. He was educated at
Harrow School from
1770 to
1775 and he won the school's
Silver Arrow (an archery prize) in
1771. He then attended
Trinity College, Cambridge from
1776 1778 and graduated with a
Master of Arts.
Spencer was Whig
MP for
Northamptonshire from
1780 to
1782 and Whig MP for
Surrey from
1782 to
1783. On
March 6 1781, he married Lady Lavinia Bingham (
1762–
1831), daughter of
Charles Bingham, 1st Earl of Lucan and they had nine children:
*
John Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer (
1782–
1845)
*Lady Sarah Spencer (
1787–
1870), married
William Lyttelton, 3rd Baron Lyttelton and had issue.
*Hon. Richard Spencer (
1789–
1791), died in infancy.
*Captain Hon. Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer (
1791–
1830), died unmarried.
*Hon. William Spencer (b. & d.
1792), died in infancy.
*Lady Harriet Spencer (b. & d.
1793), died in infancy.
*Lady Georgiana Charlotte Spencer (
1794–
1823), married George Quin, son of
Thomas Taylour, 1st Marquess of Headfort and had issue.
*
Vice-Admiral Sir Frederick Spencer, 4th Earl Spencer (
1798–
1857)
*Very Reverend Hon. George Spencer (
1799–
1864), died unmarried.
He served under
Pitt as
First Lord of the Admiralty from
1794 to
1801, and then in the
Ministry of All the Talents as
Home Secretary. He was noted for his interest in literature. Several of his close relations were more famous than he. His son
Lord Althorp was one of the chief architects of the passage of the Great
Reform Bill in
1832. His sister
Georgiana married the Duke of Devonshire and became a famed Whig hostess. Spencer was also High Steward of
St Albans from
1783 to
1807, Mayor of St Albans in
1790, President of the
Royal Institution from
1813 to
1825 and Commissioner of the
Public Records in
1831.
He died in 1834, aged 76 at Althorp and was buried in the nearby village of
Great Brington on
November 19 of that year.
Named after Spencer:
*
Spencer Gulf
